We are so screwed

Well the quadrennial popularity contest is upon us. Bullshit will be flying fast and in amounts never seen before now that the Supreme Thugs allowed robber barons to participate in the media frenzy that accompanies our national effort to reduce everything to tv spots. Forget a meaningful discussion of issues. Slogans and catch phrases will be hurled at us, always with the backdrop of some patriotic symbol. Fact is that our entire political system has been reduced to electronic bullshit. While there may be a real difference in the two candidates, the end result always seems to be the same. Money and monied people drive this country. We, the people, only matter at the polls and given the fact that the majority of us either don't give a shit or are too blinded by our own biases make the deciding faction a small minority. The candidates are, for all intensive purposes, sides of the same coin. Last time, the country went for hope and change, and all that was delivered was despair and the status quo. This year the deficit seems to be the issue. Luddites on the right scream we need to cut all social programs while maintaining tax cuts for the wealthy and expanding the military and its doomed missions. To hear this collection of “know nothings” is to hear the murmurings of the lemmings as they race toward the cliff's edge. They have no common sense. They huddled in circles and mumbled their prayers to a god that we can only be thankful does not exist. They reduce everything to faith and their faith is stooped in Byzantine knowledge. The movement of the right grew out of everything ugly and hateful in our history and to make it palpable they wrap it up in fundamental Christian thought that has nothing to do with Christ save the misappropriation of his name. As for the left, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am of that persuasion, we keep pushing the idea of equality and social services but we don't have a clue as to the dynamics under which the game is played. We have ideas that are, at times, strangely based on new age thinking that can be down right faddish. We supported Obama as if he was a messiah demonstrating that we are as fool hardy as our brethren on the right in our belief that we live in a system that can be shaped by the will of the people. What we got was but another four years of the failed polices of the previous administration. That a man as articulate as Obama could not have seen that the road to meaningful change comes from meaningful action not bullshit is beyond understanding. How can we believe that Congress is at fault when he was elected with a super majority and did nothing with it? To have waltz his way into this quagmire after four years is at its best a sign of incompetence. Underlying it all is the possibility that in this game of politics it is the moneyed people profiting from it all. Instead of Paul Volcker we got the wall street pigs who proceeded to suggest that they knew how to correct the mess they made. It was like to house breaking a pup by giving him a new room to crap in. To even suggest, as Obama did, that JP Morgan's chief guy is an astute banker is about as close as you come to drinking the Kool-Aid as you can get. If he is so damn astute, does he need a regulation to keep his subordinates from sashaying up to the dice table and pissing away a fortune? Give me break. I believe but I am not stupid. We are all plugged in and hopefully that maybe our salvation If we could only have an American Spring and move this country toward a meaningful path to a future filled with the promise that our science has given us. Politicians to the one are mere bull shit artists who work at convincing us at what we already know. As I look across the vast expanse that divides this country, the problem as I see it is that as much as we have been able to progress in terms of knowledge there is an opposing force just as certain in their ways to returning the country back to a time that never existed. In the meantime, the moneyed people sit in their glass tower smiling in amusement at the antics of the masses. For in the final analysis, as long as there are two factions fighting one another, neither will have the time to ferret out the real culprits.

The Legacy of Reagan

The Legacy of Ronald Reagan

It is hard to imagine looking at this year's Republican Primary and wondering where in the hell have all the conservatives gone. There exists in the annals of the GOP, many giants. Nelson Rockefeller comes to mind though to be honest he was more Democratic in his leaning than ever Republican. There was also Javits a senator from New York, Brooke of Massachusetts. Let's not forget Ike who warned the nation about the Military Industrial Complex. Add to this list, Drisken and many others. These men were all politicians but somehow they contributed to the great experiment. They had ideas, they promoted programs, they advocated policies. In short, they helped to steer the great ship of state through the troubled waters of time. Where have men of this caliber gone?
I think the fall of the Republican party began with the ascent of its recent icon, The Gipper. Ronald Reagan stands at the juncture between meaningful dialogue and manufactured bullshit, better known as “spin.” Reagan made stupid an art form. He could disarm and counterpoint the most salient of points with a down home, “There you go again.” Reagan was the senile grandfather whose greatest gift was his ability to make stupid seem common sense.
History shows that during the campaign for the presidency he won that he was dimwitted, not unlike a recent soccer mom with a pit bull ego. When asked serious questions, he showed nothing but confusion about history and geography. In fact, some analysis of his behavior suggest that he may have already been suffering from Alzheimer's. In the early going of that campaign, it was clear by his operatives and his wife that he was not up to the give and take of the campaign. What happened was that all of his contact thereafter was staged. The great modern conservative icon was scripted.
What is significant about this turning point in politics is that dumb became the new common sense. People related to Reagan, in large measure, because he was one of them. His smile and demeanor always at the ready played to the American sense that you didn't need to be smart. In fact, there was once a popular bumper sticker, that proclaimed, “if you so damn smart, why ain't you rich.” It was at this time “trickle down” economics became popular. The idea was if the rich had enough money, they would create opportunity. There was also something called the Lafer Curve used to prove supply side economics, and was about as sound as using a sieve to hold water. This popular leader played the tune of cliches and non statements that got the populace dancing. A program at the time, The Lives of the Rich and Famous extolled the virtue of excess and the masses sat in their homes and lived vicariously. Another push at the time was the assault on government. Regulations became the bane of the Republic. And of course, the ghouls who pushed this once B actor onto the main stage waited with baited breaths as the checks to their greedy nature were stripped away giving them full reign to do whatever they wish to do. What followed was the Savings and Loan Debacle.
The south plays into this revolution. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act and their inability to control the Democratic Conventions with their arcane penchant for segregation in all its ugly expressions, they flocked to the Republican Party and began with the slow sure progression of a malevolent force to seize control. Against this backdrop, enter the Elmer Gantries who with the help of hired guns like Reed and Atwater shaped public discourse with hate and fear.
It is a sad commentary that one party out of two is so far removed from the century we are living and the issues we are facing. Intolerance seems to be an underlying theme. Santorum can actually call out a president for being for education. It is absurd, when education has been the corner stone of all progress. I know the Senator is a Roman Catholic, and I would like him to point to one progressive act the church has taken in last one thousands years. I would dare say that the Rome of today would probably censor the Jesus of Biblical times for his positions expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. The irony of this current primary is that candidates can proclaim outright foolishness and prove their point by saying it is what I believe. It is like Reagan standing there on the platform and rather than answering the question come out with his “Aw shucks, there you go again.” The only thing more scary than that is me learning that after the primary season, the Republican candidate takes up the violin.
A great nation does not fall because of its lofty goals but its belief in things that have long outlived their usefulness.

Reflections From The Tropics

The amazing thing about the new right is that individually and collectively they are so self absorb in their twisted logic that to prove their outlandish position they need need to revise history, name call, outright lie or bend the facts. The conclusions they reach defy science and common sense. For example, they argue that the deficit is the chief problem but they don't want to raise revenues to reduce the deficit and if that wasn't enough they want to double down with tax cuts. The irony of this logic is that what they want to do will only exacerbate the deficit. It is so ironic that in the face of these deficits, most still rattle the sabers calling for more military expenditures. They also feel that business needs to be unshackled for its potential to be realized. They argue that any government regulation is onerous. A cursory look at the history of abuses of industry in this nation shows example after example where the public health and safety was compromised in the pursuit of profit. From child labor to the love canal to the financial collapse in any decade, we find greed and outright corruption at the heart of each and ever disaster. A most recent example of this insane approach to non intervention is the antics of Halliburton, a connected company, overcharging the government in Iraq. Unregulated business is but an open door to the law of jungle.
What is most striking about this new conservatism is those who elbow their way into the public eye and who bring equal amounts of bombast and viciousness to their glib critiques of anything outside of their limited political philosophy. They have mastered the art of name calling. They are little more than the executioner in the public square or the cruel and sadistic Caesar turning his thumb down towards the crowd. It is sad but true that we humans have a sick propensity for violence and enjoy both inflicting and observing it. It is to this perverse side of our nature that these ghouls of conservatism play to. That they are successful in their efforts causes me to shudder for out of this insanity lies the death, chaos, and mayhem of man's inhumanity to man as exemplified in the genocide so replete in human history. This collection of mad antagonists sow the seeds of hate. They care not for the consequences of their actions. As a result, political hacks looking to take advantage of public sentiment kowtow to these fools The sad result is a nation divided, a dead lock congress, an ineffectual president and a country incapable of dealing with the issues that need addressing. The antagonists drone on pushing the lemmings to the cliff's edge. What awaits is the pit of decline, wherein a great nation collapses into a fragment of what it was and its potential withers under the strain of hate, intolerance and ignorance.
Against this backdrop parade the fools who proclaim they are ready to play the tune so the lemmings will find some measure of calm as they hurry towards their sad fate. Fools and protagonists form a chorus whose shrill voices sing the song of a past history that existed only in the mind of the deluded. The masses crowd into cathedrals of ignorance nodding and cheering each and every inanity. Their cacophonous utterances drown out any hint of reason or science. Their only desire is to see any liberal skewed on their skews of indifference. “To hell with education” “To hell with the rights of women” “Death to the unbelievers” Then, with a pause, they stand to sing the National Anthem, though no one knows the words and they fill the empty spaces with monosyllables that tax their cognitive abilities. Slaves to simplistic explanations, they nod and affirm the nonsense they are fed.
Liberals are no better. They cling to a promise of equality while they hurry to whore themselves to the moneyed class. They, when given the opportunity to change things, procrastinate waiting for the succor from the moguls. They crave money so they will be able to continue in their role. Even the staunchest ones among this collection are tarnished with the benefits accruing to their station. Their idealism long ago sold away for thirty pieces of silver. Their constituents hold to the belief that their representatives are doing good, but the reality is that liberal and conservative dance the dance of politics which demand that the spoils be evenly distributed though the majority gets just a little more.
Our country has always had a spotted history. We freed the slaves but held them in chains with Jim Crow Laws. We offered reforms in the stock market after the crash only to unleash insatiable hogs who dreamed up schemes with the help of rocket scientists. We talk of worker safety while we send the coal miners down to their tombs. We sacrifice the good earth. We sacrifice our youth to misadventures. All the while deceiving ourselves with bullshit. America isn't so beautiful when looking from the window of a tenement while your child wheezes from the stifling air. All the while those who have made it to the pinnacle of the dung heap complain about food stamps as their distended bellies push away the excesses of their greedy eyes. Their offal more food then some children in some distant land will see in their short lives because hunger will snuff out their brief life.
As I sit and write this, I too am part of the pampered lucky ones. I have been able to eat my way into obesity. I have been able to draw dole from the Treasury for services rendered. I have gamed the system and am able to do things that others before me couldn't even dream about. I have stood and observed things that defy description, like a sunset from the deck of ship in the middle of the ocean. I have broken bread with those who haven't a worry about finances. I have heard them decry the liberals for wanting too much. I have heard them begrudge the poor for the relief they receive. All the while, they bask in the benefits of a system designed that allowed them great wealth. It is an irony the satirist Mort Sahl described in this fashion, The Rich Conservative Believes He Deserves Everything He Stole.

The Hypocrisy of Piety

To hear officials of the The Catholic Church express their outrage at a rule that would require their hospitals and schools to afford birth control to its workers you would think that their institutions were bastions of morality and ethics. The Catholic Church has always presented itself as the keeper of the sacred scriptures and arbitrator of all things moral. While it sanctimoniously claimed that any rule that spoke of contraception was morally reprehensible, dioceses had to be dragged into court to protect the innocent children who were being abused by those who had taken sacred vows to minister to the congregations. The outrageous hypocrisy of these “saintly” folks defies reason.
First and foremost in all matters related to the health care of an individual, it is between the patient and doctor. No one can supersede that bond. For a bunch of old men to declare what a woman's right should be is as ludicrous as some of the actions taken to protect the guilty pedophiles who haunted the sacristies looking for victims. To be quite frank, any moral high ground these so called church leaders once had was eroded by their own fulsome acts of protecting the perpetrators in their ranks.
Second, the leadership of the Catholic Church has a long history of displaying an abysmal showing of 13th Century thought. While birth control could do wonders for the developing world under the See, the papacy and its band of bishops, have continued to subject many third world nations to continuing poverty while spreading dogma no longer relevant in the 21st century. The history of the church is replete with example after example of adherence to standards and practices clearly tied to the dark ages. Lest we forget the obstacles placed in front of Galileo, and the more disturbing example of its actions during the years of the inquisition. Let's remember, Luther's protest was based on a corruption so deep and pervasive as to subvert the very teachings of Christ. Isn't it ironic that today anyone would look to the church for any matter related to science or health?
It is sheer chicanery to separate practice from pronouncements. The old adage practice what you preach applies. Rather than getting all bent out of shape over a rule concerning a woman's health, the church and all its ministers should be focused on helping the victims of their neglect. Then maybe the church can regain some semblance of respect. The hypocrisy of talking about a moral issue related to health while ignoring the damaging effects of years of abuse at the hands of its priests is outrageous.
All this mumble jumble coming from the right about the separation of church and state is another example of how this country is slowly becoming an intolerant society. What is so different about Sharia law and bishops dictating what health care a woman can receive? I contend the same disturbing trend of intolerance guided by ignorance that conservatives like to point to when discussing their enemies is exactly when is occurring in this country. All this talk of rights and religious freedom is but a smoke screen that bigots use to defend their stupidity against science and logic.
Morality and ethics are only relevant when they are back by meaningful actions. To claim a right to intervene in the doctor patient relationship based on a moral position is pure hypocrisy. While I wish the church would drag itself at least into the 19th century, I fear that it will remain cloistered in its ignorance. Perhaps, the single most damaging impediment to the ability of the church to move forward in its thinking and actions is its singularly male dominated hierarchy. Not only is it time for women (if there are any so inclined) to become priests, what the church needs is a woman pope. Perhaps then it can metamorphose into a a force for good.

Mitt the Shit

Mitt the Shit

OK, the pundits will sit around their tables all with sagacious interpretations to describe the recent embarrassment of Romney. It seems this guy can't get over 51% of any primary race. He is whipped by crazies like Newt and Rick. The only fools not able to capitalize on their “Not Romney” tactic are the three idiots who possessed a severe case of hoof and mouth disease. It seems Mitt who had sold his soul to the neanderthals who now control the Republican party is finding himself the chameleon splayed on the table with a scalpel hanging over him like the sword of Damocles. “What Shall It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World And Lose His Soul.” Well, it seems we need to dig into both myth and the bible to understand what is happening to this caricature of himself.
The Republican party is a haven for scoundrels and crooks. It wasn't too long ago Haley Barber was being portrayed as presidential timber. Well, he is an example of the outrageous crap parading as conservatism. Here is a man who was a leader of the party selling pardons like some street corner dealer who doesn't give a wit for the consequences of his criminal acts. Fact is the Republican Party has been taken control of by a group of thugs and criminals with a throng of no nothings filling the ranks. Karl Rove, a spokesperson for conservatives, was directly involved in breaking the law. Sure a president can pardon a criminal but that doesn't undue the crime. And the slick vermin of the party having reduced politics to single silly issues, like gay marriage or patriotism or deficits (without owning up to their part in it) are now reaping the fruits of their labor.
Santorum and Gingrich can spout the craziest shit imaginable. Like Newt talking about the sanctity of religion while violating every commandment. Santorum can talk of Christian values while ignoring the key tenets of Jesus, Charity and Forgiveness. Against this backdrop of craziness, Mitt, not being a dullard, realized that he had to move a 180 degrees from his previous positions to attract enough nuts to support him in his presidential bid. Unfortunately, trying to please a nut can only be accomplished by those who understand the crazed machinations of the insane. One can say one needs to be an accomplished nut with no moral underpinnings.
The Republicans beginning with Atwater gave up its ethics and morals and reduced American politics to a sham attracting in the process the conservatives of the south who longed for the days of Jim Crow laws. One mustn't forget that harvesting this segment of the American electorate one needed to stand in the foot prints of George Wallace and other of his ilk. It seems to me that the chickens have indeed come home to roost and the Republicans and their allusions to the golden era of Reagan (which wasn't so golden)have painted their candidates into the corner of intolerance and bigotry and ignorance. The candidates must appeal to the lowest of low. They must seek to preach separation while alluding to sheer poppycock, like solving the debt by attacking the liberal agenda, which most can't even explain what it is they believe save with trite cliches pumped into them by men who have not an iota of conscious. Poor Romney once a man of principle must now appear as a no nothing, with simplistic solutions to complex problems set forward by men who sought only to gain the throne so they can pilfer the treasury. Indeed, what does it gain a man . . . .”

Calling out an Asshole

Oh, if the reporters assigned to National Politics weren't such a collection of fools. Bob Shiffer of CBS finally gave a retort worthy of the Fourth Branch of Government (The Press). When listening to Herman Cain state his qualifications for Secretary of Defense, he responded, “I've been on ship but that doesn't qualify me to be Secretary of Defense.” It was a most seminal moment in this circus of presidential politics. Now, every reporter worth a penny of the salary should start questioning these candidates about the fundamentals of what they are saying.
For example, does the meanest SOB, the vainglorious Newt, really believes he has been traveling on the high road? Never has there been a more petulant self serving hypocrite then the likes of this character. He has set a new low in terms pompous self promotions. How can a man who spent his entire self serving life in the pursuit of ego and monetary aggrandizement possess the temerity to proclaim he has the qualifications, based on his experience, to be president?
Thankfully, Perry and Bachman are headed to the hinterlands with their respective tail tucked between their legs. Their gumption to even enter the race parallels the ranting of self delusional despots of the ilk of the North Korean nut who just passed away. Now there are two crazies still to contend with. Ron Paul who is as loopy as a yo-yo, yet at times makes more sense than anyone in office or running for office. Like when he says, we should stop wasting treasure and our youth on misadventures in a land where no one wants us. I am reminded that a broken clock is right at least two times each day. Santorum, who has a humble origin, has spent too much time in catechism classes, and is about ready to be president as Kermit the Frog. No, take that back, Kermit is more ready than a man who is so out of touch of the time he is living he might as well don the garb of a Swiss Guard. At least then people would know where he really stands.
Now for Romney, a man who actually had some good governing experience, but now seems to contradicts anything good that he did do and opt for sounding like a nut who is trying to outsmart the psychiatrists who are trying to commit him. If only, he had the intestinal fortitude to stand up for the good he accomplished and demonstrate how he could really make a difference by delivering programs that work.
This country is in a frightful state, when the people who are running things and those who want to run things are so far off base that they cannot grasp the dire needs of a country that is awash in craziness that cannot be contained. In the beginning of this rant, I made mention of the Fourth Estate the press, now there is a powerful force the Fifth Estate, Big Business and the Sociopaths who run the companies. At the top of this economic food chain are slugs and incompetents. From thieves on Wall Street to greedy small minded men, the country is being systematically destroyed by incompetency on a level heretofore not seen.
I am no fan of those captain of industries who built their empires on the backs of the poor. But at least they were competent. They drew upon people now held in low regard to build efficient factories. Their rise was marked by ingenuity and persistent. Unfortunately, when they rose to their lofty levels they destroyed competition and suppressed the workers. Anyone who thinks that industry unchecked is good is living in a fantasy world. Sure Wall Street was once a means of raising capital for legitimate start up businesses; now it is little more than a casino rigged in such a way as to actually destroy companies and make the working a man a pawn in a power broker game of high finance where evil and greed are the characteristics that the culture demands of its sycophants. The ones who display the qualities of a true psychopath are the ones who are elevated to sit at the top of this dung heap.
The first GI bill did more for this country than all the businesses combined. Unions did more for the development of a middle class than all the job creators who ever created a single job. The FDA, when it had teeth, did more to protect the food supply than any agribusiness king pin. All those tea party folks who think they know what this country is about haven't been schooled in the history of this country. They think healthcare as it is being administered today is good. They don't want universal coverage, only their own Medicare. When the talk this campaign season turns to the problem with entitlements, take note for the very safety net people have come to rely on is being attacked for being too costly. How this argument can be made when the whole tax structure is out of whack and fool hardy military campaigns are siphoning off the capital needed to sustain a nation is a question that is never addressed. All the while, the capitalists who build weapons are reaping trillions of dollars. Wealth falls to a small percentage, yet the political pulse continues to feed on that which will eventually stifle life. When there is little difference in policy and direction of a nation when there is a change in administration, it is time to realize we exist in a farce where the joke unfortunately is on us.

The Era of Bullshit

This is the era of bullshit. It reigns supreme. It is the one asset prized above all else by those who care not to examine or those who would dupe us into believing some bullshit principle. Who needs reason or logic when making an argument when all you have to do is bullshit. News type on tv aren't reporters; they're bullshit artist. They looked good, sound good, but if you really listen they are spouting one nonsensical thought after another. Don Lennon, a supposedly quick witted CNN newscaster with the zany eyes, questions the wisdom of property laws in a marriage with the logic that defies the basic principles of fairness. In the Kobe Bryant divorce case, he argues that a woman shouldn't be entitled to a husband's earnings because she didn't earn it. Sounds a bit 16th Century to me. He is but one example of how the air waves are filled with bullshit from people who haven't a clue as to what they are saying. I don't even want to talk about Fox News where most if not all of their mouth breathers have such a bias laden agenda that to even use the words "fair and balance" is to defy credulity on a level not seen since the Nazi propaganda films. Throwing back their own bullshit at them is a sick pleasure that give me a lot of enjoyment.
It is no wonder that any fool with a gift of gab can delude themselves with the idea that they can be president. They most likely have a penchant to wax on any issue and take pride in their diction and their seeming cogency. What makes matters worse is the contingent of “no nothing” reporters who rather than calling these prevaricators on their outrageous assumptions play along in this foolish parade of fools by asking questions as inane as the initial assumptions. Thus, you have a duplicitous double talking opportunist like Newt proclaiming one non nonsensical position after another – many contradicting his own previous statements on the subject or outright falsehood. Romney can recast himself with bullshit from a middle of the road conservative to a tea party advocate – all of course with bullshit. Bachman looks and talks like she is insane and gets serious attention from the “talking heads” who accept her polemics as if they were rational. And let it be said that commercials are are nothing but sheer bullshit. The most repugnant offender of bullshit is the political commercial that come from any party or organization. Both Democrats and Republicans bring the art of bullshit to a new level of subterfuge when they have the time and money to package whatever of ego driven maniac who is seeking office. These products of the campaign are so rife with bullshit that they should be outlawed.
Fact is our entire waking hours is filled with bullshit. From dawn to dusk, and now even those quiet hours from dusk to dawn are filled with bullshit. From no nothing talking heads who jabber endlessly on the TV, to reality stars and their fake lives, to infomercials designed to sell us useless shit. Yes we are subjected to bullshit at every turn.
There isn't a minute in the day when we aren't bombarded with bullshit. Our government, all branches of it are filled with bullshitters. If the congress and the president were really interested in saving money, they would eliminate any title that relates to bullshit. Public information officers, spokespersons, and all their ilk should be driven from their office and made to serve time in some capacity that benefits humanity, like say picking up dog shit. Fact is the spin masters are good at only one thing and that is twisting facts to make whoever responsible not responsible. Like BP running an ad about how concerned the company is about the environment. Hypocrisy and bullshit go hand in hand. Fact is we have more bullshit than we need. We live in a world of make believe. We are fed bullshit so much that we don't ever get the truth. The war in Iraq has ended. The war made possible because of bullshit. There was no ticker tape parade on Broadway for our troops, nothing but a collective sigh of relief. If blood is to be shed in the cause of something, the cause should have a specific objective. Unfortunately, bullshit wars merely exhaust us, drain our treasury, and sacrifice our young.